Rancho Mirage, medical marijuana dispensary trade barbs

A decision is expected by Thursday evening on whether a medical marijuana dispensary must remain closed until its future is determined in court. Riverside County Superior Court Judge John Evans heard arguments for and against extending a temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction at the Indio courthouse Monday. Rancho Mirage Safe Access Wellness Center opened in June at 72-067 Highway 111 and shut down after Evans granted the temporary order requested by the city on Aug. 6, on the grounds the dispensary failed to get a certificate of occupancy and business license before opening.

Safe Access subsequently applied for a certificate of occupancy, but City Attorney Steve Quintanilla said Monday it's been denied because the building didn't meet parking or other requirements for disabled access. “I find it distressing that a business that purports to serve ill patients (some of whom may be physically disabled) does not seem to be genuinely concerned with disability access issues,” Quintanilla said in an email. He said the permit was also denied because of the city's 2011 ban of dispensaries. That law was declared invalid under the state constitution after another dispensary sued the city.

That decision is under appeal, and cities and counties throughout California await a decision from the state Supreme Court on whether they can adopt total bans on dispensaries, after a series of conflicting rulings from county and appeals courts. Safe Access attorney Joseph Rhea said the dispensary never had a chance of getting the permits, and an employee was told as much by two city staffers, one of whom was captured in a video clip saying there is a separate process for medical marijuana dispensaries. He called the city's denial of the certificate of occupancy “transparently a joke. That building has been there for 35 years, and they're finding this out now?” He said it is considered a “heritage building” under the 1992 Americans with Disabilities Act, so requirements aren't as stringent.

He said the city had invented a separate, if unwritten, set of permitting standards for dispensaries: “It's one thing to say you don't like marijuana; it's another thing to create these fraudulent procedures. That's just shady.” Quintanilla said Monday the same rules apply to all businesses, and he'd just thought of another that could apply to Safe Access, since the dispensary has stated on a website it delivers to patients in Rancho Mirage. Medical marijuana delivery is permitted in the city, he said, but any service must also get a business license. “I'm going to tell them that, and if they don't apply for one, we'll cite them for that, too,” he said.